I am new to the caregiver situation,
having just added an additional bedroom/bath to my home
and moved my Mother-in-law in on August 20, 2003.
I thank my lucky stars that she is a sweet, loving,
giving, generous person; easy to get along with, without
ever complaining. Even so, I am finding that being
a caregiver is even harder than I had ever supposed it
to be.

Wanting to get her involved in more
activities, we went to the Senior Center last week.
Knowing she loves bingo, we found that this
entertainment is available four days a week. We
brought home their booklet as well as calendars and I
just knew we would soon have some new activities in our
life! WRONG. After reviewing everything, my
Mom informed me that she was NOT going to go play bingo,
even stating that she was not sure she even remembers
how to play (have not played since last fall).
Feeling that I should attempt to force an issue of this
nature, I readily agreed that it was okay. After
thinking about the situation for a few days, one morning
over coffee I related to her that I had decided that I
would go ahead and play bingo; that it was perfectly
alright that she was choosing not to go. She
looked at me for a moment as though she could not
believe I was making this decision, and then announced:
well, if you are going to play bingo, I will go with
you. BINGO - I had found a way to approach the
situation with success!